The Vernon County Sheriff’s Office has completed an investigation that involved two children who went missing from Vernon County Thursday night.

Missing persons reports were taken Friday morning by deputies and Nevada Police of what appeared to be a planned run-a-way by the children and their mother. One child was reported missing from Nevada, while the other was reported missing from a rural county address.

Investigators believed the children may have been taken by their mother Kelly Otter, who had just been moved to Vernon County’s Most Wanted list as a parole absconder and had multiple warrants for her arrest. An endangered person’s alert was sent out all over Missouri in an attempt to locate the children.

Deputies received information Sunday afternoon that lead them to a house in Milo where one of the children was seen through a window. Deputies made entry into the house and located Kelly Otter and one of the children. The second child ran out the back of the house and into some nearby woods and was located several hours later.

The Sheriff said although they had just moved Otter to the most wanted list, their main focus was to locate the children. “We are glad their safe and we were able to locate them before anyone got hurt,” said Sheriff Jason Mosher. Otter is currently being held in the Vernon County Jail.

Two other arrests were made during the search for the children but were not related to that incident. A deputy looking for the run-a-way juvenile stopped a suspicious vehicle that turned out to be stolen. Both parties were arrested and the vehicle was seized. Both names are being held pending the filing of charges.